Chapter Six
The next morning, Mattiasand Elias get me ready to be brought before my new owners. I wake to their faces over me, the two of them working closely together with me, never leaving me alone even for a moment.
It occurs to me, as I rub the sleep from my eyes, that I am under guard. I keep feeling sorry for and soft toward these men, but they have been my captors from the beginning. They were tools of the sheriff, and now they are tools of the seven men who came to purchase my flesh.
“Where are my clothes?”
“You’re not getting clothes,” Mattias says as I eat the fruit he brought me for breakfast, entirely nude except for the napkin in my lap. He is sitting across from me while behind me Elias braids my hair.
“Why not?”
“Because you hide knives in them,” Elias reminds me.
“I mean, okay, but I was being held by a psycho.” I drop the fruit. “Are you really not happy about what I did? He fucking neutered you!”
“That’s enough.” Mattias clips out the words. I can see I’ve hit a sore spot with him. They don’t like their cut status being referenced, and I guess I can understand why. To an uneducated observer, or at least, to my inexperienced eyes, I couldn’t tell that they were any different from other men but now, I am starting to see the differences. They don’t grow facial hair. They don’t seem to grow any hair aside from their eyebrows. And there is something more beautiful about them than there is about most men. They don’t smell the same as the mercenaries. They are missing the musk of maleness.
So I am more confused than ever. The sheriff did this to them. The sheriff is gone by my hand, and still they are not happy.
“I killed the bad guy,” I say, not stopping even though he wants me to. I’m not going to silence myself. I’m not going to submit to their desire for me to be calm and easy to handle. I was born wild and will always be wild in deed and in speech.
“It is not that simple,” Mattias says. “You took life.”
“So?”
They exchange looks I don’t understand.
I cannot puzzle these men out. The sheriff took everything from them. Their freedom. Their manhood. Who cares if I took the man’s life? He was putting it to evil use. He was oppressing them. He was hurting me, and probably hundreds, if not thousands of people.
“There’s always a tyrant in times like these,” Mattias says. “And now a new one will rise.”
“Maybe he’ll be better than the old one?”
“Tyrants never are. Come, girl. Time to meet your new masters.”
“No man is the master of me,” I say, wiping my hands on a napkin.
I can feel them giving one another looks again. They think I am silly and naive. I think they have forgotten what makes them men. Whatever implant has stolen their virility has also made them complacent. I’ll show them what someone who still knows what freedom is can do.
“Get me a dress,” I say. It’s not a request. It’s an order.
“No clothes for you,” Mattias repeats.
“Get me a dress. Now.” I put as much steel into my tone as I can muster. These men are my servants. They bathe me, feed me, dress me. They will do as I say. They will learn to obey...
“Ow!” I gasp as Mattias’ hand meets my bottom hard enough to lift me onto my toes. “What the hell! You fucking tax inspecting, speeding ticket...”
I use all my worst words, but they do nothing. He stands over me, so damn tall I have to crane my neck to give him the dirty look he deserves.
“I will take you over my knee and I will spank your ass red,” he threatens. “And you will go and meet your masters with your rear flaming with the evidence of what a misbehaved little girl you are. Is that what you want?”
His words make my face blush as crimson as the hand print he left on my rear. It irks me that he does not take me any more seriously after seeing what I did yesterday.
“Aren’t you afraid of me, Mattias? Aren’t you scared of what I’ll do to you if you don’t obey me? Maybe I’ll find something else to cut...”
I was trying to be a bad-ass as I hissed the words, but when I see the change in his expression from stern to thunderous, the realization of what a huge mistake I have made comes rushing over me.
I make a dash for it before he grabs me, and just manage to avoid his grasp by dashing under the table. I have to use my lack of height to my advantage now, scrambling out the other side as these two angry giants chase me around the elegant room.